Halloween Woodpecker

The weather has turned suddenly cool and the foliage is starting to peak. I have needed to pull out the warm socks and sweaters, ...all as it should be on the last day of October. I ventured out into the back yard for some shots this afternoon, and found that the snowbirds (dark-eyed Juncos) have returned after summering in the north.  This is not a Junco, which I could only get on the ground, picking up seed under the feeders, but it is one of my year-round regulars, a Downy Woodpecker.  This shot with the lovely autumn colors in the back appealed to me.  They are quite cute birds that get up against the tree and then toss their head side to side as if they are giving lots of thought to exactly which spot to start pecking. 

Tonight is Halloween....big sigh. It always gives me flashbacks to when my boys were young and so wired after a night of trick-or-treating, loaded down with candy, sticky hands and faces covered in chocolate, hopped up on sugar,  arguing over counting their loot spread out on the family room floor.... and then being impossible to get to bed to settle down to sleep so Mom and Dad could inspect the bounty for the candy they liked and maybe have a piece or two...